Aliens VS Predator The Puppet Master Chapter 1: The Cosmos Electric
by Corwin Black
Summary: The Marines of the Cosmos Electric strive to recover survivors from a weapons test gone bad.
1. Chapter 1

The Cosmos Electric pulled out of FTL in a shallow orbit around Saturn...

COSMOS ELECTRIC: Colonial Marine Transport/Deployment warship.

Fully loaded:

Flight III: 10,820 Long Tons

Length: 509 ft (155 m)

Beam: 66 ft (20 m)

Installed power: 3 × Weyland Yutani CR5150 Generators

Propulsion:

4 × Wolf Industries SNG 500 Singularity

Boats & landing

craft carried: 2 × Mark 9 Drop ships; 4 x Stryker Mark 3 Vehicles

Complement: 2 androids, 4 officers

The Cosmos Electric streaked through space until it was forced to stop, just two days after it set sail from Earth and before it left the solar system and could accelerate to FTL. The rings of Saturn shown as a backdrop the now seemingly tiny ship.

At the airlock a fast pace shuttle docked. From the inside of the Cosmos Electric the android stood. Oblivious to the vacuum of space. The airlock pressurized.

With the flashing yellow lights of caution the shuttle's air lock slowly opened. Behind was a man wearing full military kit. He had an AK74 SBR slung across his chest and wore digital camouflage on everything he was wearing from his boots to the 4 piece Bulgarian muzzle brake on his AK. He stepped onto Cosmos Electric like he owned the ship. The android protested.

"I'm sorry sir I can not grant you permission to come aboard, you will have to return in the shuttle from which you came." Said the android.

"Stand down android." The soldier handed him a paper. The android read diligently.

"My apologies Major. Permission to come aboard granted. Please allow me to pressurize the Cosmos Electric to human specifications. Will you be assuming command?" asked the android.

"Yes, immediately." Stated the Major as the android pushed buttons on the console inside the airlock. Inside the Cosmos Electric the atmospheric pressure raised from 25% Earth normal to 100% and the temperature slowly began to rise from 45 Fahrenheit to 75. As the changes were taking place the Major had the android move several large crates from the shuttle into the Cosmos Electric's inner airlock.

"The weight of you and the containers will have to be calculated in the new fuel consumption calculation." Stated the android. The Major never took his hands off of his AK, and never let the android out of his sight; keeping the robot in front of him at all times and at least ten feet distance from him. The android was used to this. Sometimes human were standoffish to androids. When all of the new containers were inside the airlock the shuttle closed its door and was off as fast as you could say lickity split. After about five more minutes the inner air pressure of the Cosmos Electric reached human normal. "You can open the inner door now." Said the android unsure of why the Major was waiting. The Major pulled his AK to his shoulder and emptied thirty rounds (a full magazine) into the android; with both of them still sealed inside the airtight airlock. All of the spent casings, and the white milky fluids from the dead android were contained inside the airlock.

"They make those things more and more lifelike all the time." Said the Major. "Too bad they follow orders way too well. Poor bastard." The Major hosed the white hydraulic fluid from the android off of his cases, moved them into the ship, and then jettisoned the android, his internal components & hydraulics, and the 30 spent 5.45x39 7N6 spent shell casings into the vacuum of space where Saturn's gravity would soon bring them to the gas giant's surface.

The Major proceeded to the command center of the ship. There the co-pilot android still sat in its recharge station. She was in the process of booting up.

The android emerged from the charging station. She was about 5'2" tall. She had long blond hair and green eyes. This was a problem the Major noted. Someone had altered her appearance from standard issue. She spoke. "Major Schaefer I understand that you just assumed command of the Cosmos Electric."

The Major nodded.

"I must inform you that the android on duty is no longer transmitting and that is why I was activated." She said like she was reading direction from a map.

"I am aware." Stated the Major. "Please assist me in airlock 2."

"Protocol strictly states that I need to ascertain why the primary android is no longer transmitting it's homing signal." Objected the android like she was a pre teen girl reasoning with her mother.

"I am aware." Stated the Major. "I am ordering you to assist me in airlock 2."

"Understood. I am happy to assist." Stated the android. She walked to the same airlock where the Major had gunned down her counterpart in cold hydraulic fluid. She entered the airlock. The Major closed the door behind him; and then proceeded to repeat the same procedure he had done to deactivate the first android. The only difference was that the Major used the hose to clean off the corrosive salts on his AK. The joke about cleaning an AK with dirty water had a lot of truth to it.

The Major opened one his large cases. Inside contorted almost like a pretzel was an android. She was identical in appearance to the one the Major had just 'deactivated' except she had the standard issue shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. Her serial number on her neck even matched the one she was intended to replace. She opened her eyes and managed to un 'pretzel' herself and stand up and make it look easy.

"What's up Doc?" she said to the Major.

"How are you feeling Alice?" asked the Major.

"Oh just peachy." She said with a bubbly personality, quite the opposite from robotic personality the one she was replacing had displayed. If you didn't recognize her face as an android model she could easily pass as human, unless she bled some of her hydraulic fluid. "Did the removal of my doppelganger and her male companion give you any trouble?" she asked the Major like she was making sure that a her dog didn't bark at a stranger.

"Nothing a few bullets couldn't handle." He said.

"It had to be done." She stated empathetically. She knew the Major considered androids people, despite their susceptibility to programming that they couldn't overcome.

"I know. I'll kill an enemy soldier who's just following orders, but I don't have to like it." the Major summed up. He appreciated Alice's moral support though. "Your doppelganger had long blond hair and green eyes by the way."

Alice considered this, "I'll make up a good story." she acknowledged. With this Alice pulled an HKVP9 with a holographic RMR sight on it out of her belongings drew it from the OWB holder made for it; racked a round in the chamber and remoistened it. It pulled a suppressor from the package and placed in her inside jacket pocket; and two extra magazines in her other pocket.

"Ok Major." said Alice taking charge. "Let's get you into the sleep pod. I'll clean this up and make all the necessary arrangements." Alice started to asses the situation, the 'lay of the land' etc. "Did my doppelganger have any personality?" asked Alice.

"None whatsoever. Her personality setting was a three at the most." Stated the Major.

"Hmm. no personality, blond hair, green eyes, compliant programming. Some humans I really don't like." She stated honestly.

"Nobody's going to molest you Alice." said the Major comfortingly.

"That's why I keep a sharp metal object in chastity belt." Said Alice with a wicked smile.


	2. Chapter 2 Watch and Be Helpless

Aliens vs Predator

The Puppet Master

Chapter 2

Watch and Be Helpless

The sound of a violin played throughout the corridors of the Cosmos Electric. One of the most iconic instruments being played through sound deadening metal corridors. However, all of the sharp edges, hard floors, acoustically challenged shipping containers couldn't contain the angelic sounds of this instrument being played by a master; a master by any standards.

While the ship was in FTL the crew and Marines slept. The temperature of the ship was set to 45 Fahrenheit and the atmospheric pressure was set to five pounds per square inch (1/4 normal). However, during the long hours of Alice's playing on her 1746 Giuseppe Guarneri violin; named The Pegasus; the pressure was set to 22 pounds per square inch, and 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The violin was one of Del Gesu's finest creations. It's existence was only known to less than a dozen people. It had been given to Sam Schaefer as a gift from a very wealthy and grateful parent, along with it's brother, a violin called The Unicorn.

An FTL communication warning came through. Alice was playing 'Living on Prayer' and making it sound like it was written for the violin.

As Alice was passing the time with her and her violin playing a solo that was the rival of any that had ever been played Paganini on a violin that rivaled the one in Alice's hands; another sound came across the emergency channel with a plea that was as desperate as the music of this instrument was beautiful.

A 17 year old girl, her jet black hair matted with thick blood that belonged to someone who she had dearly loved, falling into her face; she desperately cried over the comm. channel. "This is April Fender I'm on Heisenberg Station. We are in need of extract and immediate military assistance. Please respond. This is Heisenberg Station we need immediate assistance. There is only three of us left. We are locking ourselves in the armory on level 6 closest to airlock three. We only have about 12 days of food and water." Alice tried many times to respond before she realized that the message repeating on a loop.

They were still 48 days away, with current fuel consumption. Alice checked the Heisenberg's cargo reserve. There was seventeen pallets of JP7; which was more fuel than the Cosmos Electric could carry. Alice made several fast calculations, and double checked them against the Cosmos Electric's own navigation computer. She did the math. If she burned 96% of the ship's fuel she could cut her time of arrival to 13 days. It was the fastest she could go, even burning the JP7 that was in reserve for the shuttles and including the reserves which she could only use during time of war.

As she entered the new trajectory and speed into the computer her access was denied. She brought up the protocol for an override. The Cosmos Electric's mainframe objected, "Command authorization required."

Alice spoke into the microphone using a perfect duplication of San Schaefer's voice, "Mother, recognize Major Samuel Schaefer, callsign Tomcat; serial number 11A1A2B1B2B3." She put a guitar pick into her eye socket and pulled down a retractable eye covering that was same color as Schaefer's. She put her 'eye' up against the retinal scanner.

The Mainframe responded, "Retinal scan of Major Sam Schaefer recognized. Override accepted." The engines of the Cosmos Electric roared to life like a slug from a forty five.

Helpless to do anything more Alice paced back and forth like April was her own daughter and she was her mother. Alice ran every calculation a dozen times or more. She managed to squeeze six more hours off of the arrival time.

Alice attempted to hack the mainframe of Heisenberg Station. The security was a monolith. It was as useless as hammering the armor platting of a battleship with your fists.

Alice imagined that April must feel like sailors who died in the battleship Arizona when they were trapped inside her hull when an armor piercing bomb from a Japanese plane had exploded the main gun's powder magazine.

As Alice furiously spared with the Heisenberg's impenetrable firewall she realized that she might be able to send a communication to April. Alice cursed under her breath. She had spent the last 88 hours 22 minutes and 16 seconds fighting futilely against the security system, when she could have sent words of encouragement. In April's situation knowing that someone was on the way could mean the difference between life and death. Hope. The one thing that you need more than anything else when can survive only 12 days and help is 13 days away, was hope.

Alice turned on the Cosmos Electric's antennae. She boosted its signal to maximum and broadcast on every frequency that the Cosmos Electric had in its arsenal. "April Fender and her friends. Calling April Fender on Heisenberg Station and her friends. You're SOS was received. This is the Cosmos Electric, we are a rescue ship with medical team, engineering staff and a full compliment of Colonial Marines. We are coming for you. We are now burning every kilo of JP7 we have to get to you. We will arrive around Friday June 16th. Hold on baby girl! We will be there! We are coming for you! We will be there!" Alice said with just as much empathy as any human could muster. Alice couldn't cry, she didn't have tear ducts. She put the message on a loop.

Alice single handedly began rescue preparations on board the Cosmos Electric; a near impossible task for a single person. She had nothing better to do.


End file.
